How Fast Should You Run?

It is important to understand the difference between running and jogging.

Firstly, We will look at the type of running most athletes prefer to train with.

Joggers do all of their runs at the same, steady, moderate pace. They might go a bit slower on their longest runs than they do on their shortest ones, and a bit faster on their best days than they do on their worst days, but they make no conscious effort to vary the pace of their training.

Joggers who enjoy jogging and improving your times is not important to you, then by all means, keep on jogging at the same pace. However, if jogging at the same, steady, moderate pace all the time gets to be a little too monotonous for you, then you should put more effort into improving your performance, you can incorporate pace variation into your training.

Most highly competitive runners jog most of the time. Easy running is great because the more of it you do, the fitter you get, and because it’s not terribly taxing you can do a lot of it. Faster running is more taxing, so it can only be done in small amounts. But a little goes a long way, especially when faster running is layered on top of a high volume of easy running.

Joggers often refer to this “tempo pace" which is only moderately faster than your natural jogging pace. To find it, start at a jog and imagine shifting one gear up, pushing yourself just a little but remaining comfortable.

Competitive runners should do two faster running workouts per week. Some even add a small amount of faster running to a third workout, for example, a few wind sprints at the end of an easy run. This weekly schedule should be the standard as it works better than any alternative for the most of runners. By doing less, they don’t get as fast or race as well; if they do more, they burn out or get injured.

All fast running should not be the same. A few speed running's should exceeding the natural jogging pace that competitive runners routinely hit in their training. It’s good to hit them all because each contributes to fitness development in a slightly different way than the others.

Fast running pace known as "threshold pace". At fast running pace at which you can remain fully in control of your breathing. At your threshold pace you’re breathing deeply, but not straining to get enough oxygen. For highly trained runners, "threshold pace" can be sustained for about one hour in race conditions. For beginners, it’s closer to a 30-minute maximum pace.

The is "VO2max pace" is the faster running pace . At this pace you should breathe as hard as you can. Actually, it’s the slowest pace at which you breathe as hard as you can. For runners, it corresponds to the fastest speed we can sustain for just six to 10 minutes. It’s very uncomfortable, but you can get used to it. The "VO2max" running is always done in interval format. So, instead of going out and running six or seven minutes straight at this pace, at the end of which you’re completely exhausted. Instead you might run 5 x 3:00 at "VO2max" pace with a 3:00 rest interval of easy jogging after each segment. The rationale here is that you can do a much greater total volume of "VO2max" pace running if you break it up into intervals than you can if you do one block straight to exhaustion.

Your next gear of running is known as no other than “speed”. It’s really a range of speeds faster than "VO2max" pace and slower than a full sprint. Runners usually incorporate speed work into their training in the form of intervals ranging between 200 and 400 meters in distance, or between 30 and 80 seconds in duration. According to Nike coach Alberto Salazar he likes to have his athletes run 7 x 300 meters with jogging recoveries after each interval.

Full sprint is the fastest running pace, it is the fastest speed you can sustain for no more than 20 seconds. Most of the time competitive runners do no real sprinting in training, but they should, because it’s a terrific power builder and it’s fun.

The question of “How Fast Should You Run?” still remains unanswered. We have seen the case for running at a variety of speeds, but what you need to know is exactly how fast you should run your threshold workouts, your VO2max intervals, and so forth.

The two complementary ways to know the right pace for each workout. The first is to let the workout itself guide you. Example, an appropriate threshold workout for many runners consists of 20 minutes at threshold pace between a jogging warm up and a jogging cool down. This 20 minutes should feel challenging but not exhausting. Your breathing should be heavy but controlled. If you run this workout using these guidelines and monitor your pace as you go, then whatever pace you wind up running is your current threshold pace. You can then use that numerical information to help guide future threshold efforts. Note that this pace will improve over time as you get fitter.

There are also various systems that prescribe appropriate target paces for individual runners based on their current fitness level. It require that you enter a recent race time or estimated current race performance capacity. They then run a calculation and spit out target paces for various types of workouts. These workout pace calculators are very reliable, but they should not be treated as gospel. lt's advisable to listen to your body when running appropriately formatted workouts and either speed up from your target pace or slow down as necessary.